Content-centric networking (CCN), as well as information centric networking (ICN), content oriented networking (CON), content-based networking (CBN), and data-oriented networking (DON) are alternative approaches to the architecture of computer networks. These architectures provide communication networks that allow a user to focus on the data he or she needs, rather than having to reference a specific, physical location from which that data may be retrieved.
In CCN, the node may send an interest packet to the network when a node wants to access a piece of content. The network then forwards the interest to one or more copies of the content object using the name of the content for routing. Once the interest reaches a cache holding a copy of the content object, a data packet may be sent back. The data packet may retrace the path followed by the interest in the reverse direction to the node which requested the content. Each data packet may be a chunk of a larger content object.
The interest may request a specific chunk, e.g. “www.foo.com/Dir/File/C1” or just initiate the transfer of a file by requesting www.foo.com/Dir/File/, which may be implicitly understood as a request to send the first chunk in return. This architecture may naturally allow routers along the path to store the content in its local storage (e.g., content store). This allows the router to serve the cached content in response to an interest rather than going to the origin server of the content. One important aspect of CCN is that it may fully disconnect the delivery of the content from any network location. Thus, rather than establishing an end-to-end connection, the content is received chunk by chunk from wherever those chunks were stored in the network. This may also be embodied within the security architecture, which may be built independently of the connection endpoints.